Introduction
In this chapter Isaac is a picture of a believer who lives in the land, that is the believer who is blessed with all spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, but who seeks the things of the earth and is guided by them. In practical terms, we see the consequences of this in this chapter. We see a family that knows God, but where nothing of this knowledge and trust in Him is found. On the contrary, we see how lusts, deceit and lies play a role. Every member of the family acts without asking God what to do.
It is a cautionary example for us that we will always be aware that the blessings we have received have been given us by grace. As soon as we forget that, we start looking for our own interests with all the sad consequences thereof.
1 - 4 Isaac Wants to Bless Esau
1 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 2 Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old [and] I do not know the day of my death. 3 Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; 4 and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
Isaac has become blind. In the application this means that his understanding of spiritual things has disappeared. He can no longer see the blessings of the land. That was different with Moses (Deu 34:7).
He wants to bless Esau, while knowing that the LORD has given Jacob the birthright. This is the result of his predilection for “a savory dish”. That makes blind to see things as the Lord sees them. Isaac, who has started so well, fails when he gets old.
He talks about the day of his death, but it will take still forty-three years before he dies. He will be one hundred and eighty years old (Gen 35:28-29). Here he is one hundred and thirty-seven years.
5 - 17 Conspiracy
5 Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring [home], 6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, 7 ‘Bring me [some] game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the LORD before my death.’ 8 Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. 9 Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them [as] a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. 10 Then you shall bring [it] to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” 11 Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. 12 Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” 13 But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get [them] for me.” 14 So he went and got [them], and brought [them] to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. 15 Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. 16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. 17 She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob.
Rebekah hears of Isaac’s intention. That makes her worried. She thinks that the Divine blessing will pass Jacob by. Instead of going to Isaac and reminding him of God’s purpose to bless the youngest before the eldest, she resorted to deceit. It is one thing to know the thoughts of God, it is another thing how they are realized. It is terrible to help God by deceit.
Wouldn’t God have answered her if she had gone to Him with this problem? She used to do that (Gen 25:22). She started with Isaac in such harmony. They have received one another from the LORD (Gen 24:1-4,12-15,57-67). Together they sought Him for having children (Gen 25:21). Now she is going to cheat on her husband. She thinks she can secure Jacob and the blessing for him by this, but she loses Jacob by it.
The cheating is done by using two young goats and their skins. Later Jacob will be deceived in the same way (Gen 37:31-34). Jacob objects. He thinks along, but only in a negative sense. He only thinks about what the consequences would be if the fraud were discovered. There is no feeling of guilt, but only fear of the curse when discovered.
Rebekah declares that she is willing to take on the curse. She does see a solution. The skins provide the solution. Then she prepares the savory food “such as his father loved” (verse 14b). She prepares the goats in a way that it seems to be game, making it “deceptive food” (Pro 23:3).
It is awfully bad to misuse the knowledge that husband and wife have acquired from each other in a marriage for their own plans. Here knowledge undermines their unity, while what spouses know about each other should serve to strengthen their marriage. There is no more openness. They play hide and seek for each other.
18 - 29 Jacob Steals the Blessing
18 Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.”
20 Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have [it] so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the LORD your God caused [it] to happen to me.”
21 Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
22 So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
23 He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him.
24 And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.”
25 So he said, “Bring [it] to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought [it] to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank.
26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.”
27 So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said,
“See, the smell of my son
Is like the smell of a field which the LORD has blessed;
28 Now may God give you of the dew of heaven,
And of the fatness of the earth,
And an abundance of grain and new wine;
29 May peoples serve you,
And nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
And may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
And blessed be those who bless you.”
Jacob, disguised as Esau, comes to his father. Isaac feels him and says: “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” If we apply this to a believer, we can say: “He talks like a believer, but his deeds are those of the world.” What we say should correspond to what we do.
When Isaac kisses Jacob, he smells the smell of the field. What a sad thing it is, when the ‘smell’ of the world hangs around a believer. What we eat determines the smell we spread. Do we eat the food of the world or the food of the Lord Jesus?
Up to three times Isaac expressed his suspicion, his uncertainty, whether he really has to do with Esau or not (verses 20,22,24). Because he depends on his sense of touch and smell, he does not find out the truth and believes the lie. If he had trusted God, he would never have been deceived despite his blindness (cf. 1Kgs 14:4-5).
Jacob plays the role of Esau well. That is clear from what he says when Isaac notices that he is back from the hunt so quickly. Jacob then speaks of “the LORD your God”. That is what Esau would say. Esau has no connection with the LORD and would therefore never speak of ‘the LORD my God’, while Jacob would say so.
The blessing that Isaac pronounces on Jacob is a blessing as it would be meant for Esau. Isaac blesses Jacob with the abundance of heaven and the earth, with being the master of other nations and his brothers, and with curse upon all who curse him, and blessing upon all who bless him. It is not the blessing as God in its fullness has in mind for Jacob. Isaac expands on this somewhat in Genesis 28 (Gen 28:4), while God Himself describes the full blessing in Genesis 35 (Gen 35:11-12).
History as it is mentioned here does not show much evidence of faith. Yet Isaac is not a man who lives without God. In the blessing he passes on, faith is present (Heb 11:20).
30 - 40 Isaac Blesses Esau
30 Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
31 Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.”
32 Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
33 Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought [it] to me, so that I ate of all [of it] before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.”
34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, [even] me also, O my father!”
35 And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.”
36 Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
37 But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?”
38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, [even] me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept.
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him,
“Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling,
And away from the dew of heaven from above.
40 “By your sword you shall live,
And your brother you shall serve;
But it shall come about when you become restless,
That you will break his yoke from your neck.”
When Esau comes, Isaac trembles violently. He is not indignant about Jacob, but his conscience speaks. Suddenly he comes into the light of God. He sees that God has come in between. He does not turn back the blessing, but confirms the blessing given to Jacob. With this he submits himself to the will of God. Therefore the blessing he gave Jacob can be seen as an act of faith (Heb 11:20).
Esau searches with tears for the blessing with which Jacob is blessed, but is rejected (Heb 12:16-17). The blessing is not taken from Jacob and given to Esau. In verse 36, Esau gives a misrepresentation of the situation. He seeks the blame with the other. We also sometimes do. This already happens at the time of the fall into sin. What is needed is straightforward confession.
Esau also receives a blessing, but one much less than Jakob received. The first blessing Jacob receives is that of the dew of heaven. Esau receives the fatness of the earth, for that is the most important thing for him, while he is excluded from the dew of heaven.
41 - 46 Rebekah Wants Jacob to Flee
41 So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” 42 Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you. 43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! 44 Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, 45 until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” 46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
The fact that Esau is a godless man is also evident from what he says to himself. He talks about killing his “brother Jacob”. In this is revealed the spirit of Cain, who “was of the evil one and slew his brother” (1Jn 3:12).
Rebekah and Jacob both won when it comes to getting what they wanted, even though they got nothing more than what God wanted to give them. However, they have also lost a lot of what they have wanted to secure. We see that here.
Rebekah wants Jacob to flee. According to her, it will only take a few days (verse 44). The reality is that she will never see him again. Rebekah also suffers the consequences of their common deceit. The stolen blessing only brings grief and separation. Jacob will become a vagabond for twenty years. He owes that to himself.
It seems Rebekah uses another trick in verse 46. She talks to Isaac about the wives of Esau and sighs that Jacob will not “take a wife … from the daughters of the land”. By noticing this she indirectly says that Jacob should leave. What is meant as a flight from Esau, becomes in this way a permissible departure, with the blessing of Isaac. That in reality it is a flight, is said by the prophet Hosea (Hos 12:12).
That God, with Jacob, through all deceit and tricks, still fulfills His own plans with Jacob is a matter that arouses great admiration. Thus is God, Who can use the failure of man, also of His own, to fulfill His plans. This does not in any way decrease the responsibility of man, it increases in all cases the worship that God deserves for it. The history of Jacob begins with trickery and deception; the last activity we read of Jacob is that he worships (Heb 11:21).